Legislative Wrap-Up, 0513 ALBJ, 74 The Alabama Lawyer 204 (2013)
| Author | Othni J. Lathram. |
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\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0For more information about the institute, visit www.ali.state.al.us.
\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0A Lively and Interesting Session
\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0This article is being written following the 11th legislative day of the 2013 Regular Session of the Alabama Legislature. This means that a little more than a third of the allowed limit of legislative days has elapsed. Through today, 733 bills have been filed, 90 have been passed by the house of origin and eight have been passed by both houses. These statistics are slightly down from the average of the past few years, but it has been a lively and interesting session all the same.
\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0For purposes of this article, I will focus on the bills that have already been passed in at least the house of origin and are in good position for final passage. Please note that action on the budgets is already underway with the general fund budget positioned for final deliberations and passage in the senate appears imminent.
\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0Of the 90 bills which have been passed by the house of origin, 13 are local bills, 24 are sunset bills and the remaining are bills of general application.
\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0Alabama Accountability Act of 2013
\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0The bill that has garnered the most attention thus far in the session is the “Alabama Accountability Act of 2013.” This education-focused act has three major components: first, it provides a mechanism whereby local school systems can opt out of certain statewide requirements; second, it provides a mechanism whereby parents who transfer students from failing schools can receive a tax credit for expenses associated with moving to an out-of-district non-failing school or a private school; and third, it provides tax deductions for contributions to scholarship-granting entities that help students move from failing schools.
\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0A number of the bill’s key provisions are triggered by the school’s being a failing school. A failing school is defined as “persistently low-performing” on the state’s School Improvement Grant application, is in the bottom 10 percent on statewide reading and math assessment scores, has earned three consecutive D’s or one F...
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